New Legislation Re: Notary Public
Effective January 1, 2005  

All persons appointed on or after January 1, 2005, will be required to take and satisfactorily complete a six hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State prior to appointment as a notary public.  Please note that all persons being appointed, no matter how many commission terms that person has held in the past, will be required to take the initial six hour course study. (Government Code Section 8201 (a) (3) and (b).

In addition, the Secretary of the State will review and approve any course of study that includes all materials that a person is expected to know to satisfactorily complete the written examination. The Secretary of State and will compile a list of all persons offering an approved course of study and will provide this list with the Notary Public Handbook.

(Government Code Section 8201.2)